“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” – Luke 9:24
“It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:20, 21
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
“Then Jesus, calling out in a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this He breathed His last.” – Luke 23:46
A personal relationship with God through our faith in Jesus changes the way we see our life on this earth and our death. Our trust in His divine promises to care for us in any and all circumstances bring us strength and comfort even in the valley of the shadow of death. This is certainly where Jesus was when He spoke this last word from the cross. His faith in the Father was all that He had left. It is now a question of trust.
The ultimate declaration of trust we can make of someone is…”I would trust him with my life.” In other words, we are letting others know that there is nothing we wouldn’t trust that person to handle for us. It is saying that we are convinced that they have our back in every situation and that they would never allow anything bad to happen to us.
In His final words Jesus declares His trust in the Father by taking that a step further. He is not only saying that He trusts the Father with His life…He is saying that He trusts the Father with His death as well. Jesus was dying. It was coming and there would be no last minute rescue…this was it. This word reveals a trust beyond this world and its limitations. “Even in death I trust you and put myself in your hands. In life and in death I am yours.” Jesus is saying that even His death could not break His trust in the Father.
You see, our faith gives us more than anything this world has to offer. Our faith changes our perspective of this earthly life in light of our life in eternity. We begin to see things in terms of God’s Kingdom instead of the kingdoms of this earth. It is through faith that our mortal limitations are shattered and replaced with immortal possibilities. This faith makes us a part of things beyond this world and its boundaries…including death! It transforms the way we live our lives and the way we die.
As you can see from the Scriptures above, this faith…this trusting God with our life and death…changed the way the Apostle Paul looked at his life and his impending death. He wrote the words above as he awaited his own execution. However, his faith in Christ and his identification with Jesus on the cross gave him a unique strength to face life or death. Paul was saying with Jesus, “Father, into your hands I commit your spirit”.
Can you pray that today? You don’t have to wait until you are at the end of your life to make this declaration to your heavenly Father. “O Father, today, I trust you with my life and death and everything in between and everything that follows. Into your hands I commit my spirit!“